Nostalgia & History > The Last Decade of the CB&Q on the Racetrack

I spent my teens as a railfan along the CB&Q racetrack living in suburban Westmont in the 1960s. That was the decade before the big BN merger. I have just put together a photo blog of trains passing through Westmont that decade -- way freights, through freights, dinkies, zephyrs, and a few odds and ends. It starts with F-units.

http://railfan44.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-last-decade-of-cb-on-racetrack.html

Marty Bernard

Great stuff Marty. Just an FYI minor correction to one of my favorites of the bunch. Those 5 Rio Grande's are GP30's not 35's as you have listed. Love the triple track and have fond memories from my first visit as a kid in 1969.
Steve B.

Oops. Fixed.

Awesome shots Marty. One correction though, many of the E5's reassigned to C&S-FW&D after 1960 and the few Q E5's were in long distance local service. They did all get retired until 1968-1969 and last ones were not cut up until 1970. Illinois Railway Museum has CB&Q 9911A (Aka C&S 9952A), the sole surviving E5.

wchogger

Unfortunately while E5s did come through Westmont in the 1960s, I photographed none.

Excellent photos, thanks.

Bob

Marty,

Great shots and enjoyed the commentary as well, thanks for posting.

One bit of additional info. The middle units in the 1968 U.P. consist are SD24Bs.

By the way, does anyone recall the years that DRGW & CB&Q exchanged power through Denver? Your photo shows DRGW power operating on the 'Q in early 1966, I don't believe they did that for more than a couple of years or so...

Take care,

Mark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/13 19:12 by mamfahr.

Marty, beautiful shots of a bygone era. However you are misinformed about several things:

1) The trackage between Chicago and Aurora was known as the EAST END and was dispatched by the EAST END dispatcher.
The local was known as the East End way freight.

2) The Budd gallery cars were steam heated and had Waukesha self-contained A/C units. The
cars also had a 32 volt lighting system and received current from the 7200 and 7300 power cars.

3) The older single level coaches hand been rebuilt with ice A/C and 32 volt lighting system. I recall
seeing the cars being iced at Aurora.

4) Several of the 9900s had a 32 volt lighting generator added in place of one steam generator. These
engines could handle 2 or 3 cars supplying lights and steam heat.

5) In the early 1970s (I don't remember the exact year) the gallery cars were sent back to Budd for
conversion to full HEP as they are today. The engines were sent to Morris-Knudsen to be rebuilt for
for suburban service under WSMTD. And the rest is history!

In my opinion, the Burlington 700 class gallery cars were the best in Chicago!!!

Hope these points helped clear the air. Again, thanks for the GREAT photos!!!

CJV in Aurora

Great stuff, Marty.
Thanks for sharing

Mark,

From what I recall from a few books and photos, that CB&Q-DRGW power pool only lasted 1965-66. There were some incompatibility issues with the power of both roads, but you have to wonder since they pooled similar models (GP30s, GP35 s). DRGW was never a big power pooler, maybe because it was a smaller road. It was part of a transcontinental route with MP and WP, but rarely pooled power with them. MP I can understand, with their lacks of DBs for Rio Grande's mountains, but WP I can't since both roads were very similar in size, operations , power, etc. And WP became more involved with power pools by the 70s with UP and BN. The only power pool the DRGW was consistently involved in was with UP on the Kaiser coal trains.


mamfahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Marty,
>
> Great shots and enjoyed the commentary as well,
> thanks for posting.
>
> One bit of additional info. The middle units in
> the 1968 U.P. consist are SD24Bs.
>
> By the way, does anyone recall the years that DRGW
> & CB&Q exchanged power through Denver? Your photo
> shows DRGW power operating on the 'Q in early
> 1966, I don't believe they did that for more than
> a couple of years or so...
>
> Take care,
>
> Mark

What a terrific piece of history, thank you for putting that together ... and thanks for being trackside to preserve that history for all of us!

Thanks a LOT for this posting. I started my career with EMD on June 1st, 1962 and have spent MANY, MANY enjoyable times on the CB&Q/BN/BNSF "Race Track", both on trains and track side.

Keep up the excellent work.

Awesome.....Thanks.. you captured history...

Steve

cdub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The only power pool the DRGW was consistently
> involved in was with UP on the Kaiser coal
> trains.

I thought that I have seen shots of DRGW Power on SP into the Sparks/Reno area in the mid to late 70's era. I know when I was stationed in the Navy at Fallon Nv in 1983/1984, it was not uncommon to see DRGW units mixed in with and sometimes the sole units on trains into and out of SPRKS/RNO on SP. Ben

It was usually a cab signal compatibility issue. The lead unit needed to talk to the track. There were variations between roads. Other units in the lash-up just had to MU properly as I understand it.

Marty

MartyBernard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was usually a cab signal compatibility issue.
> The lead unit needed to talk to the track. There
> were variations between roads. Other units in the
> lash-up just had to MU properly as I understand
> it.
>
> Marty

You are correct. Only the lead unit in the CONSIST (NOT "lash-up") needed to be cab signal compatible.

Thank you for the detailed descriptions of the Q operations to go along with you detailed slides.

jo-tower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Marty, beautiful shots of a bygone era. However
> you are misinformed about several things:
>
> 1) The trackage between Chicago and Aurora was
> known as the EAST END and was dispatched by the
> EAST END dispatcher.
> The local was known as the East End way
> freight.
>
> 2) The Budd gallery cars were steam heated and had
> Waukesha self-contained A/C units. The
> cars also had a 32 volt lighting system and
> received current from the 7200 and 7300 power
> cars.
>
> 3) The older single level coaches hand been
> rebuilt with ice A/C and 32 volt lighting system.
> I recall
> seeing the cars being iced at Aurora.
>
> 4) Several of the 9900s had a 32 volt lighting
> generator added in place of one steam generator.
> These
> engines could handle 2 or 3 cars supplying
> lights and steam heat.
>
> 5) In the early 1970s (I don't remember the exact
> year) the gallery cars were sent back to Budd for
> conversion to full HEP as they are today. The
> engines were sent to Morris-Knudsen to be rebuilt
> for
> for suburban service under WSMTD. And the rest
> is history!
>
> In my opinion, the Burlington 700 class gallery
> cars were the best in Chicago!!!
>
> Hope these points helped clear the air. Again,
> thanks for the GREAT photos!!!
>
> CJV in Aurora

I was told by a few Q guys that the rails called it the "east end" and that the "racetrack" is a foamer term. Anyway great stuff, no matter what era it's always a busy busy place. And speaking of Q way freights, the first time my friend Steve (retired BNSF 2010) worked one as a youngster in late 60's the conductor said don't go outside with your lantern on kid. The point being someone would see it at night and mug you! I can't remember where it was exactly but it may have been somewhere closer to Cicero.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/13 23:37 by GN599.